


Novon's heppy leettle helper.

by willowoak_walker



Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Jager backstory, Skin used, possibly onesided love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-22 11:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12480836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowoak_walker/pseuds/willowoak_walker
Summary: If Von Zinzer left or caught cold it might cause the Mistress some distress. That is definitely why Dimo is coming out to talk to him. Because it's foggy and he might get sick. Definitely.





	Novon's heppy leettle helper.

“Hyu dun like beink called her minion,” Dimo said, and Von Zinzer jumped. He whirled around, wrench at the ready. To defend, not attack. “Ho, dun vorry, keed,” Dimo said, “Hy chust vant to tok to hyu.”

“Oh,” Von Zinzer said. He sat back down, and didn’t twitch when Dimo settled down onto the steps beside him. He watched, though, still with that wariness. “You going to tell me I should be honored?” 

"No," Dimo said. “Haf piple been doink dot?” Von Zinzer nodded. “Hy’ll tell dem to knock it off. Hyu find de honor in hyu own time.” He shrugged, the casual shrug it had taken him years to master. “Or hyu put op vith it efen do hyu dun like it, or hyu leaf.” Von Zinzer wrapped his arms around his knees and looked at Dimo with deep suspicion. “Nobody can tell hyu vot is honorable for hyu.”

“That’s—” Von Zinzer cut himself off. “Thanks.” He unfolded himself a little and propped his chin on his hands to stare out into the fog. “Why don’t I leave?” He sounded almost plaintive. 

“Ho, dot’s de big von, isn’t it?” Dimo handed Von Zinzer the thermos. “Haf a drink from dot, varm hyu up inside, is cold out here.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He’d had to drag back almost four hundred years of memories to find the ones he wanted. 

“Is this… hot cocoa?” Von Zinzer stared at Dimo incredulously. 

“Ho, hyu tink Hy gif hyu Jäger beer?” Dimo chuckled. “Hy vants to tok to hyu, not vatch hyu fall ofer vhile hyu chase de flyink mimmoths.” Von Zinzer snorted. “Hy vants to tok to hyu about vhy hyu don’t leaf. Hy tink Hy might haf someting useful to say about dot.” 

Von Zinzer’s suspicious look deepened. “Why?” 

“Vunce, Hy vas hyu. Vait, not _hyu_ hyu. No time travel nonzense.” Von Zinzer relaxed visibly at that.  “Hy vas in a position Hy din vant to be in, got pulled in to be a minion.” Von Zinzer handed Dimo the thermos, but he didn’t leave. He was good at that, the not leaving. “By a vay vorse Spark den Miz Agatha.” Dimo took a drink and wiped his face with the back of his hand. “Hy vas keed, hyu know, beck before de Storm King. It vas a mess, it vas. Efferyvon vas attacking efferyvon else. I grew up in a leettle town chust inside Heterodyne raiding range.” Von Zinzer looked interested, at least. Dimo gave him back the thermos and went on. 

“Zo ven von of de local boys — Hy tink he vos de mayor’s son? — anyvay, vhen von of de local boys developed the Spark, it vas — efferybody made a beeg foss ofer eet.” Dimo realized that his accent was getting thicker, and took a deep breath. In, and out. Von Zinzer took a drink and didn’t comment. 

“Und he makes us his minions, ov course, but he is our Spark, vill protect us from de Heterodynes, voo.” Dimo waved his hands to suggest cheering. “Und he gets vhateffer he vants, and he vants efferything.” He took another deep, slow, breath. Nobody much talked about before they were Jägers when everything after was so much more fun. And less full of people who were hundreds of years dead. That you liked. Who didn’t die in glorious battle. Von Zinzer passed him the cocoa again. 

“Classic Spark,” Von Zinzer said, “Never think about anything but the project. Expect everyone to just fall in line!” He glared at the fog-shadows of Mechanicsburg. “What was his thing, anyway?” 

“Giant veasels?” Dimo hazarded. It hadn’t really seemed important, at the time. Nothing he hadn’t seen a hundred times since. “No dot vos … dot guy in Zumzum bout eighty years ago, and dot gurl in Hrofvessen… anyvay, dun’t matter. De Heterodynes came raiding, und he told us to hold dem off, dot he vould chust finish up with dis — hooo, it vos peegs, he vos trying to make de perfect vild boar — dot his death peegs vould show dem, show dem all — hyu know how it is.” Von Zinzer nodded. 

“He sent my older brodder off to hold off de Jägers,” Dimo said. Von Zinzer’s eyes widened and he put a sympathetic hand on Dimo’s knee. 

“That’s rough,” he said. Dimo nodded. 

“Yah,” he said. “Und Hy vas done putting up vith his peegshit, zo Hy knocked him out vith his own bonesaw und dragged him out to meet de Heterodyne. Den Hy kneeled down und begged for his mercy und his protection. He laughed. De rest of de town kneeled down, too — I dunno if dey thot Hy vas smart or if dey vere chust scared. Und de Heterodyne — he burned dot Spark op into leetle Sparky ashes, und I vas _glad_.”

Dimo realized that he was panting, and his grip on the thermos was so tight the metal was creaking. He looked, panicked, at Von Zinzer, but he must not have been squeezing with that hand, because Von Zinzer looked concerned, not as if he were in pain. Dimo loosened his grip anyway. “Hyu hokay?”

“I think I should be asking you that,” Von Zinzer said. 

“Dint realize Hy vas still upset about dot, is all,” Dimo said, “My point vos — hyu, und me, und the Von Mekkhans, und that Violetta, ve help, ve get svept up in de madness, but ve don’t _forget_.” Von Zinzer looked at him in confusion. Dimo patted his hand.  “Hyu unplugged dot ting, hyu dumped vater on de Mistress vhen she vos in de madness place, hyu fixed de Kestle’s voteffer—”

“I had help with that!” Von Zinzer protested. 

“Ho, yez, hyu gets help. Is beeg deal, dot part,” Dimo said. “Hyu is no-von’s happy leettle helper. If de Von Mekkhans din’t haff it nailed down, hyu could be the Senescal.” He shrugged his best shrug again. “Hyu could be for any Spark hyu like, if hyu leaf.”

“What if I don’t want any Spark?” Von Zinzer asked. “What if I want to get away from all of it, just open a machine shop or something?” 

“Hoooo, tricky.” Dimo leaned back and thought about it. He’d have to talk the Mistress around, but… “Hy think hyu could sving it,” he announced at last. “Hy’ll help.”

“I could kiss you for that,” Von Zinzer said. 

“Ho, not on de first date!” Dimo’s heart sped up. “I tek hyu somevhere romantic, bring hyu flowers dot don’t vant to bite hyu face off, candlelight dinner — den vith de keessing. Hyu gots to do it right.” Von Zinzer gaped at him, and Dimo smiled. He squeezed Von Zinzer’s hand again. Then he tucked the thermos into it and stood up. He didn’t resist the urge to touch Von Zinzer’s face, careful of his claws — beard prickles. “Hy see hyu soon.”

It seemed like the best exit line he was going to get.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know how the skin is working!


End file.
